On a miserable cold and wet Friday night Queensland Roar put in a stifling performance away from home to grab all three points from a flat Adelaide United.
In a match that never got going fans could be forgiven for wishing they had stayed home. Hindmarsh Stadium is a summer only stadium. The South Australian Government of Mike Rann has never finished the stadium leaving three quarters of the ground uncovered and the majority of fans very vulnerable during wet and windy conditions.
A very respectable 10,705 fans braved the conditions only to be treated to a very disappointing display of football.
Adelaide kicked off the game in a lively fashion in the opening minutes only for Queensland to quickly recover and implement its "away from home" 4-5-1 stifling tactics.
Adelaide and Queensland slugged it out in the middle of the park and it took until the 16th minute for the first sniff of a goalscoring opportunity. Queensland youngster Robbie Kruse ran onto a deflected ball but his poor control let him down on the edge of the box and his meek effort on goal was lapped up by Galekovic in goal for Adelaide.
Reinaldo threatened to score in the 22nd minute when he nutmegged Adelaide defender Cornthwaite. Jonas Salley came to the rescue with an excellent tackle inside the penalty box as Reinaldo was about to unleash his shot.
A few minutes later Queensland should have opened the scoring through the Butcher of Brisbane - Sasa Ognenovski. The big defender was given too much space and turned Adelaide's Milan Susak in the box before striking a powerful shot straight at Galekovic in goal. It was unfortunate that the opportunity had fallen to a defender who is better known for the use of his arms on his opponents rather than the use of his feet.
With Queensland flooding the midfield Adelaide too frequently reverted to an unfamiliar long ball game. This played straight into the hands of the very experienced Queensland defence who lapped up the long high balls.
It was not until the 38th minute that either side went close to goals and again the opportunity was created by a mistake rather than by football craft. Zullo pounced on to a loose Adelaide ball and sprinted towards goal. From an acute angle he placed the ball just wide of the far post with goalkeeper Galekovic beaten.
Adelaide's first glimmer of hope came in the 41st minute through Cassio. The Brasilian defender picked up the ball in his own half, drifted past two Roar players, cuts inside and attempts a clever 1-2 inside the box only to be denied by the backtracking Robbie Kruse. The resulting corner was hit to the back of the penalty box where an unmarked Robert Cornthwaite volleyed the ball wide. It was the best opportunity of the match and, like Ognenovski at the other end, it had fallen to a central defender not known for his footwork.
Peter Green brought an end to the dull first half with the the scoreline remaining unchanged at 0-0. It was a difficult first 45 minutes for Adelaide. Wide players Travis Dodd and Jason Spagnuolo were non existent along with the more central Lucas Pantelis leaving Nathan Burns and Jonas Salley to do all the work in a crowded midfield.
Unfortunately the second half continued in the same manner as the first with Adelaide having no answer to the flooding by Queensland.
A great chance fell to out-of-form Queensland striker Reinaldo when Michael Zullo slid the ball across the park to the feet of the unmarked Brasilian on the edge of the Adelaide penalty area. Reinaldo took one touch and opted to smash the ball within the range of goalkeeper Galekovic when placement would have been a better option.
Queensland finally punished Adelaide for its lack of endeavor when Reinaldo latched on to a loose ball inside the box and smashed a volley the ball past Galekovic. 1-0 to Queensland and a confidence boosting goal for Reinaldo.
With the points rapidly slipping away for Adelaide they attempted to lit their tempo in the final twenty minutes. Adelaide pushed forward and in the 78th minute Cassio tested Queensland goalkeeper Reddy with a long range shot that Reddy was only able to parry before it was cleared by one of his defenders.
In the 84th minute Cornthwaite should have equalised with his second straightforward goalscoring opportunity of the game. Sarkies delivered a free kick onto the head of the unmarked Cornthwaite on the 6 yard line right in front of goals. With the goals beckoning the big defender headed the ball wide of the upright.
Queensland held on in the closing minutes to grab three very important points. The result keeps Adelaide in the cluster of teams around the top of the table and pulls Queensland to within one point of Adelaide.
Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar was disappointed with the result but not overly concerned. He put the flat performance down to too many tired legs and the short break between the games. In contrast Queensland Roar coach Frank Farina will be pleased to take all three points from a difficult away fixture.
The result ended Adelaide's 3 game winning streak with 14 points taken from its previous 6 games.
Best for Adelaide was new signing Eugene Galekovic making his debut in goals. Cassio was a frequent threat down the flank while Nathan Burns twisted and turned in the midfield with very little support from his team mates.
The best for Queensland was Hyuk-Su Seo who silenced Adelaide's Spagnuolo, Josh McCloughan who silenced Travis Dodd down the other flank and Craig Moore who controlled the centre of defence.